Georgian Parliament official: EU will have no choice but to start talking to Georgia

Levan Machavariani, the first deputy chair of the ruling Georgian Dream party faction in the legislative body, on Tuesday said that the European Union would eventually have “no choice” but to begin talks with Georgia.

Machavariani was commenting on the European Parliament’s decision not to invite a Georgian delegation to a meeting of its Foreign Affairs Committee, where EU enlargement issues are set to be discussed.

Speaking on the matter, the lawmaker dismissed the move as a punitive measure against Georgia.

“The fact that they are not inviting Georgia to such meetings is being presented as some kind of punitive mechanism on their part, including at a meeting dedicated to enlargement, despite the fact that, according to all of the criteria they themselves have published, Georgia is in a leading position”, he said.

He argued that European officials should accept that attempts to replace the current government through a revolution had failed and that efforts to influence election outcomes had also been unsuccessful.

“They must come to terms with the reality that neither a revolution succeeded in replacing us, nor did attempts to interfere in elections. They will have no other option but to sit down and start talking to us”, Machavariani stated.